Israel-Gaza conflict: babies trapped in hospital by fighting

Doctors on Shifa Hospital's maternity struggle in Gaza to save the lives of
dozens of babies born since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas

Video edited by Greg Walton

9:24PM BST 25 Jul 2014

As casualties mount in the Gaza Strip, doctors on Shifa Hospital's maternity ward are entrenched in a very different battle – fighting to save the lives of dozens of babies born since the start of the war betweenIsraeland Hamas.

Wafa Said was nine-months pregnant when she fled the neighbourhood of Shijaiyah after several people were killed on her street by Israeli shells.

She escaped with just the clothes on her back and gave birth to a daughter on Tuesday. She is now recovering from complications that arose during her pregnancy.

Amid fierce fighting between Israel and Hamas, doctors at have allowed her to take refuge at Shifa Hospital.

"I'm supposed to leave the hospital today but because of my situation, for someone sick like me and not having a home to stay in, they told me to remain in hospital until I find somewhere to stay," he said.

Her husband, she said, is sleeping in the grounds of the hospital. Her daughter is sharing an incubator intended for one baby with two other newborns.

Allam Abu Hamda is a doctor in the intensive care unit of the hospital's maternity ward.

"So we have now many babies ready for discharge, but we are phoning the families and they cannot take these babies, because they are displaced from their region or their homes are already destroyed," he said.

According to Dr Hamda, with more and more mothers fleeing the violence to give birth at the hospital, the ward is being stretched to breaking point.

Power cuts and a lack of spare parts for equipment have compounded the problem. Staff on the ward are working 24-hour days to monitor the health of newborn babies, without the help of up-to-date equipment.